Marc Guggenheim on Spider-Man: 'Character Assassination'

By Steve Ekstrom November 21, 2008 02:03pm ET

Marc Guggenheim on Spider-Man

Amazing Spider-Man #584

2008 has been a status-quo shaping year for Marvel’s flagship character and their thrice monthly title, The Amazing Spider-Man.
The onset of the ‘Brand New Day’ storyline featured the return of
classic Spider-Man supporting characters as well as a return to a more
classic version of the titular superhero—including a change in marital
status. As the year winds down, the final acts of a number of various
subplots have begun their final movements towards another year of new
stories; what started as a ‘Brand New Day’ for everyone’s favorite
web-slinger concludes in ‘Character Assassination’. Written by
Spider-Brain Trust member Marc Guggenheim, the story looks to answer
the year long mysteries surrounding the Spider-Tracer Killer, the
identity of Menace, and just who will be the new Mayor of New York City.

Marc Guggenheim: Basically, this January will be roughly one
year’s worth of Amazing Spider-Man since the advent of ‘Brand New Day’
and there has been a whole year of subplots that have been introduced
to readers: the mayoral campaign, the mystery surrounding the identity
of Menace, and the mystery surrounding the ‘Spider-Tracer Killer’.

I think a year, especially when you publish one book three times a
month, is plenty of time for subplots to run— and everyone working on Amazing was in agreement about that. About two summits ago, we sat down with a
single agenda of bringing these three subplots in for a landing. The
idea that came out of that meeting was the notion of “What if we took
all three of these storylines and combined them together into one big,
widescreen-style epic?” Essentially, we hammered down—beat by beat—the
entire arc which I went back to Los Angeles with and completely threw
it out the window, breaking and re-breaking the story. I actually kept
re-breaking the script over and over until I had refined the story
quite a bit. So, the initial mission statement of the arc is exactly
the same—we’re tying up the loose ends of the past year of Amazing Spider-Man
subplots. By the end of ‘Character Assassination,’ you will know who
wins the mayoral election; you will know who Menace is; and you will
know who is responsible for the Spider-Tracer killings. But the process
of exactly how we get there has been something that I’ve been playing
around with a great deal.

As for the reasoning behind the rewrites, I tend to like to “let the
story tell itself” so to speak—and in this case, again, I did a lot of
re-breaking and rewriting because we really wanted the arc to be as
good as it could possibly be for the fans; I wanted to give everyone
the best possible representation of the story that I could possibly
tell—but it’s been a tremendous group effort at the same time.

NRAMA: The stories seem to indicate the mayoral race and the
identity of Menace are somehow linked. There have been several
interesting scenes with Harry Osborn and his girlfriend, Lily
Hollister, as well. Is there going to be some serious “shock and awe”
that turns a lot of heads when the identity of Menace is finally
revealed? Is it really Harry? I mean, Norman seems to think Harry’s
been in his “Goblin Lab”…but Harry doesn’t seem to be in the loop…

MG: I can pretty much guarantee you that there will be people
who are truly surprised and there will be people who will be like, “Oh,
I saw that coming in the first issue…” and everyone in between. The
thing that I’ve learned, not just from writing comics but also from
writing television programs like Law & Order, is that you
can fool some of the people some of the time—but you can’t fool all of
the people all of the time. A long time ago, I sort of gave up on the
notion that there was an absolute jaw-dropping surprise for an entire
readership or audience. Let’s suppose the book sells one hundred
thousand copies—there’s no way I’m going to fool one hundred thousand
people; I’m not a politician.

The goal, first and foremost, is to tell a
satisfying—entertaining—story. I do believe that even if you’re the
most clever person around and you figure out the ‘whodunit’ and you’re
not surprised—that shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying the story. The Sixth Sense
was a very enjoyable, successful movie despite the fact that there were
plenty of people, including myself, who saw the ending coming.

Another important thing I’ve discovered is that in any form of
entertainment, when you sit down to a movie, read a comic book, or
watch a television show—there are two types of people: there are people
who sit down and want to be entertained and there are people who want
to be impressed but don’t
actually want to be entertained -- their enjoyment comes after when
they pick the movie to shreds. So, bottom line, much of the experience
of ‘being entertained’ comes from the attitude you come into it with.
But I digress...

Amazing Spider-Man #585

NRAMA: Well, let’s shift to the ‘Spider-Tracer Killer’; the
killings don’t seem to be related to anything particular going on in
the book—and the focus seems to shift in and out with some degree of
irregularity. Are there going to be moments in the story that reign
this subplot in for readers?

MG: I really don’t want to spoil anything, quite frankly. I
mean, when you have a subplot that’s been running for about a year—and
we said this from jump, we were very clear between ourselves and, I
think, with the readers—that there will be some issues where the
Spider-Tracer killings are in the forefront; there will be other issues
where the subplot recedes to the background; and there will be other
issues where it’s not mentioned at all. You will see, in the build-up
to ‘Character Assassination’, the Tracer killings come more to the
forefront—so we are building up to a payoff. You would kill us—and
rightfully so, we would deserve to be killed—if, for an entire year,
publishing Spider-Man three times a month, we were guilty of
over-exposure as far as the Spider-Tracer killings were concerned.
Readers would get to the point where they’d say, “Enough already.” So
we’ve been very judicious about when we’ve mentioned the subplot and
when we’ve chosen to focus on it—but coming into ‘Character
Assassination’ you’ll be hearing more about it because we want to ramp
up the tension and have some momentum going into the arc.

NRAMA: Speaking of tension, are things going to become
increasingly tense between Peter and Harry in the coming months? Or
will their friendship continue to endure?

MG: Good question—I’m not sure if I can answer that without
spoiling anything in the upcoming arc. I’m even having trouble coming
up with a coy one-liner… (laugh)

NRAMA: (laugh) Well, they’re still ‘BFF’, right? But now, there
is the uncomfortable tension that Lily has added to the mix recently
during ‘New Ways to Die’ and let’s not forget Harry’s strange aversion/
fixation with his father…

MG: Yes—he feels the pull of the Goblin’s gravity, if you will;
and he’s seems to be doing things that he doesn’t seem to recall later.
There are all sorts of emotional pitfalls that exist along the road
that Peter and Harry are walking—sometimes, throughout the arc, they
walk it together and other times, they do so separately. I think one of
the more interesting aspects of this entire arc, which we introduce in
the first issue, is that in the back of Peter’s mind he wonders if
Harry might be Menace.

NRAMA: They seem to have this very strong “back and forth” dynamic now—is there going to be some payoff in regard to Harry’s previous death?

MG: A lot of that is going to be handled by Dan Slott in his
upcoming two-parter that focuses on Harry. Hopefully, readers will come
into ‘Character Assassination’ without a lot of questions regarding
Harry and his return at the end of ‘One More Day’.

NRAMA: In regards to the mayoral race subplot pitting Bill
Hollister against Randall Crowne, there seems to be a situation
involving news media that is strikingly similar to polarized nature of
the news media during our recent presidential election. Will the best
man for the job win the upcoming race for Mayor of New York City in Amazing Spider-Man?
Or is this going to be one of these ‘bait and switch’ types of stories
where the candidate who seems great might not be so great after all?

MG: That’s a good question. I guess to answer that question you
have to treat it like it’s any other campaign in the sense that
reasonable minds will differ over who the best man is. I will say this,
however: you haven’t gotten all the necessary information by this point
to be able to really determine who ‘the best man’ is. I would like
readers to reserve their judgment in regards to who the best man really
is until you see who wins the election at the absolute end of the
arc—readers may change their mind as to who they think the best man is
by the time they read ‘Character Assassination’.

Amazing Spider-Man #587

NRAMA: In the latest issue of Amazing—Peter is trying
to get a job as a cab driver. What’s next? Will Spidey be delivering
pizzas? Or is his job at Front Line going to become more prominent?

MG: Well, the whole Peter/ Pizza delivery boy thing was done in
Spider-Man 2 so that’s probably not going to happen. Yes, we’ve seen
Peter trying to make ends meet through a number of different types of
jobs—that kind of variety is fun but the key to keeping this bit of
story light is by not overdoing it. He’s been a member of the
paparazzi, he’s worked at a comic store, and now—he’s freelancing for
Front Line and driving a cab. Basically, it’s one of those things where
it’s fun until it stops being fun, you know? We have to draw a line at
the point where we’re no longer amusing the readers.

NRAMA: Now that ‘Brand New Day’ and the initial arcs are
reaching a culmination—a year after ‘One More Day’—and everything is
under one ‘Amazing’ logo—do you feel like the controversy of the status quo change is in the rearview mirror now?

MG: No, I don’t—and I have to say I’m very surprised. I knew
there would be controversy; I knew it the second Joe pitched the events
of ‘One More Day’. I was like, “Oh boy.” I honestly thought that a year
in—and away from ‘One More Day’ and with a year of all these stories
that the controversy would have died down and it hasn’t.

I don’t really read the message boards anymore but I do participate on
a retailer website that allows industry professionals to talk directly
to retailers. The same thing I keep hearing is that people don’t feel
like this is the “real”
Spider-Man because he’s not interacting with the Marvel Universe and
it’s post-‘One More Day’ and the continuity doesn’t add up
chronologically and that the whole situation feels expendable.

There are fifty million different criticisms of the book. Reasonable
minds can disagree about how many of those criticisms are actually
valid. I will say that, out of all the criticisms of ‘Brand New Day’,
the one I absolutely disagree with is the notion that this is not
Spider-Man. I understand all the complaints about ‘One More Day’—I
really do; those complaints didn’t fall on deaf ears. However, the one
thing that ‘One More Day’ didn’t do was alter continuity as broadly as
people think that is has. All that happened was that Mary Jane and
Peter didn’t get married. They still dated, they still were in love,
and they even still lived together. I always tend to get myself into
trouble when I talk about ‘One More Day’ because it’s ‘One More
Day’—how can you not get in trouble for talking about it? (laugh)

All the stories that took place—happened. It’s unfortunate that people
think otherwise; the plan wasn’t to undo twenty years of
continuity—Marvel Comics just chose a different direction for
Spider-Man. If you want to still complain about ‘One More Day’—go
ahead, I get it—but I’d rather you beat us up for what the story really
is. If you want to quibble about Peter Parker making a deal with the
devil then so be it. But don’t go saying that hundreds of issues of
comics “didn’t happen” because they did.

NRAMA: But isn’t that sort of “deal” a natural human
reaction—Spider-Man is just like you and I when it comes down to brass
tacks, right?

MG: Well, it’s still a fair criticism—even though I don’t agree
with it. I definitely understand why it’s still being discussed. But
when someone says, “You’ve negated all these years of stories,” that’s
simply not true.

I can tell you—I’ve been reading Spider-Man pretty much my entire life.
Half of it, he was single, and the other half of it he was married—I
came into this situation basically as an agnostic.

NRAMA: That’s a great way to put that—this sort of unwillingness to commit to a side…

MG: It just kind of fits. And that’s truly how I felt until I
started writing the character. I also tend to describe the act of
writing a character like driving a car—in this case, Spider-Man just handles better in terms of the outcome of ‘One More Day’.

NRAMA: Since these storylines are planned out so far in advance these days—how much conference do the writers on Amazing Spider-Man take with one another? Are you constantly e-mailing and on the phone?

MG: We’re constantly confirming with one another and there is
some sort of e-mail exchange every single day. That’s just the oil in
the machine that makes sure that the thing keeps moving—it’s like daily
maintenance. Then there are the self-generated phone calls—like right
now—I’ve been talking with Dan [Slott] quite a bit because of his work
on the Harry Osborn arc that precedes my arc on ‘Character
Assassination’. There are semi-monthly conference calls that bring
together all the writers and the editors for the book; and there are
the twice a year summits that we’re all physically in one place for.
There is a great deal of coordination put into these books and
communication is constant.

NRAMA: Are there any specific villains that you’d like to get your hands on that you haven’t had the chance to work with just yet?

MG: I wish I could get my hands on Kraven but he’s dead.

I remember being at the first ‘Brand New Day’ panel in San Diego a
couple of years ago—and we were talking about this sort of thing and
one fan mentioned the Rhino and everyone groaned. At that point, I sort
of took it upon myself as a challenge do something cool with that
character. So I’m trying to figure out a way to make the Rhino cool—and
that still remains as something I’d like to tackle. I think Joe Kelly
did an absolutely brilliant job of rehabilitating Hammerhead in a way
that no one saw coming. That was easily one of the best “super-villain
makeovers” ever. I really want to give the Rhino that same sort of love.

I also have an idea for a really cool new super-villain. All the
classic super-villains have some agenda for hating Spider-Man—and now
I’ve come up with a new villain that has a really good reason to hate
Peter Parker. I really hope to get that ball rolling sometime this year.

NRAMA: Do you find the nature of a story arc being a standard
size—like six issues—to be confining or do you find comfort in that?
Lately, it seems that the writers on Amazing Spider-Man have been
breaking up the issues with degrees of variation—single issues,
two-parters…

MG: Oh yeah—we’re changing things and working with pacing that
best suits each story. You know, it’s funny; I really struggled with
structure both as a reader and initially as a writer until Marvel
started publishing some stuff from the ‘80’s—particularly Chris
Claremont’s work on Uncanny X-Men—I realized that comic books
have always had story arcs naturally written into them. There’s no
great re-invention going on here other than the fact that we label
stories more now as “Part One of Four” so now we all know that there is
a set ending. The other difference is that now—the writers sort of have
to plan a little farther ahead with the story by establishing the
parameters for the story.

NRAMA: Do you think this sort of planning leads to more concise writing?

MG: I think that depends on the writer; in some cases, I think it leads to less
concise writing. It depends on how the individual writer operates and
what their work ethic is like. I personally try to pack as much story
as I can into each individual issue.

NRAMA: Well now that you guys are a year passed ‘One More Day’/
‘Brand New Day’—what can you tell us about the start of 2009 for
Spider-Man? Are there any big Spider-Man villains returning?

MG: Well, I really don’t know what I’m allowed to divulge
here—but…yes, there is going to be someone big returning—an old time
Spidey-villain we haven’t seen in quite a while who is basically
getting a “super-villain makeover”. Also, keep an eye out for Ana
Kravinoff—or who we affectionately call “Little Kraven” around the
office; she’s going to start paying off in a big way. Whoever becomes
the Mayor of New York City is going to impact Spidey’s life in a huge
way—and at this stage in the story readers won’t even be able to guess
how that’s going to pay off—and there just might be a wedding.

Part one of the 5-part (four of story, one interlude) appears in Amazing Spider-Man #584, which is due in stores on January 21st.